Businessman: People worth spending time on
By Scott Waltman, American News, Aberdeen, S.D. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
When somebody else tried to tell Miltenberger, some four decades ago, that his approach was flawed, he thought it was a lie.
"I just figured I had to work my way to heaven," Miltenberger said Thursday morning in
The work, though, had already been done by Christ on the cross, the other man told Miltenberger in inviting him to a Bible study. Problem was, Miltenberger didn't have a Bible. Didn't even know where to get one. But he found one, then found out the man who challenged his religious philosophy was right, then found a personal relationship with Christ.
"I'd be a fool not to accept the offer God's making," Miltenberger ultimately told the other man.
There was no bolt of lightning or chorus of angels, Miltenberger said. But slowly, through the years, his thoughts, views and values have changed.
Even so, the ultra-competitive president of a nationwide insurance company, Iron Man triathlete and long-distance runner has had to keep learning and enduring.
When he and his cousin bought, from Miltenberger's mother, his father's insurance company after his father died, there was family strife. And it continued when his cousin wanted out of the business and, ultimately, filed a lawsuit.
When Hurricane Katrina rolled though his native
And in 2009, on a 70-mile bicycle ride, Miltenberger was struck by a car and woke up a week later in the hospital. He went from being indispensable at the office to not being able to work for months while enduring intense accident-related pain.
Miltenberger had 12 broken ribs, a broken shoulder, a broken hand, a dislocated chest and other injuries. At the hospital, he said, they called him
He still struggles to understand a good reason why he had to go through it all. Yet, he learned a lot.
"I don't spend near as much time on the trivial," he said. "I spend more time with people because people are the most important thing."
Less time at work. Less time training for races.
Some folks, Miltenberger said, think they can take charge of their lives and control what happens. But in reality, he said, there's much that can't be controlled. Disasters, small or large, strike everybody's lives, and not everything can be planned for, he said.
Now, instead of running his own life, Miltenberger said he leaves that job to Christ. It's kind of silly, he said, to think that God's plan isn't good enough or that Jesus needs a little help.
In an overentertained, overstimulated world, it's OK to pause and think about the important questions, Miltenberger said. And then, it is OK to come to the conclusion that life doesn't always go as humans plan it.
"You do not control most of the results," he said.
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